6 Startling Facts About Suicide in Australia

In Australia an average of eight people take their own lives every day; that’s one every three hours.

Over the years countless organisations have been created to bring this too often overlooked issue into the light, but despite all the campaigns around suicide prevention staged in the past 20 years rates are continuing to rise.

“Suicide accounts for more than 5% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths… In fact in my estimations, because of under-reporting issues, suicide accounts for 10% of indigenous deaths.”

According to hospital data, in the 2008-2009 financial year 62% of people who were hospitalised due to self-harm were female

Despite the fact that men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women, females account for more than 60% of hospitalisations from self-harm. And this is a phenomenon that is far from being exclusive to Australia.

In 2016, suicide was the leading cause of death among all people 15-44 years of age

In 2016, suicide accounted for over one-third of deaths (35%) among people 15-24 years of age, and over a quarter of deaths (28%) among those 25-34 years of age.

According to the ABS, for those people 35-44 years of age, 16% of deaths were due to intentional self-harm.

The proportion of deaths due to suicide decreases in older age groups, as the likelihood of dying from natural causes of death increases.

There were decreases in rates and numbers across most states and territories in 2016 when compared to 2015

The biggest reduction in number was in Queensland, which has contributed to the overall decrease in the number/rate of Australian suicides in 2016. In South Australia the suicide rate decreased by 11 deaths.

Yet the story was all together different in 2014-15, when, with the exception of South Australia and Victoria, all states and territories saw their suicide rate rise.